Girls don't go to school -- the Taliban says so.

[Evangelicalhumanist]

For reasons I don't quite get, the Taliban is taking over Afghanistan faster than any insurgency in the history of the world. I just heard an Afghan teacher, when asked whether girls in her town will go to school, said, "absolutely not." When asked why not, the only answer she could offer was "because the Taliban says so."

Pretty soon, women in Afghanistan who show any of their skin will be being punished -- often enough with death, exactly as was happening before the Americans came. There will be punishments for listening to the radio, or for dancing. There will be a lot of death -- that's the general favourite punishment. In order to make people compliant, much of that will of course be public. (Remember? The Taliban used to like executing women at the half time at football games. Don't assume they won't return to that practice.)

Welcome to the very, very worst side of religion.

And by the way, the Taliban also said -- today -- that they are patient, and will not stop until the entire world is obedient to their dictates.

 

[Twilight Hue]

For reasons I don't quite get, the Taliban is taking over Afghanistan faster than any insurgency in the history of the world. I just heard an Afghan teacher, when asked whether girls in her town will go to school, said, "absolutely not." When asked why not, the only answer she could offer was "because the Taliban says so."

Pretty soon, women in Afghanistan who show any of their skin will be being punished -- often enough with death, exactly as was happening before the Americans came. There will be punishments for listening to the radio, or for dancing. There will be a lot of death -- that's the general favourite punishment. In order to make people compliant, much of that will of course be public. (Remember? The Taliban used to like executing women at the half time at football games. Don't assume they won't return to that practice.)

Welcome to the very, very worst side of religion.

And by the way, the Taliban also said -- today -- that they are patient, and will not stop until the entire world is obedient to their dictates.

Justified eradication would be the best response on these people. Not a single taliban lives.

 

[Debater Slayer]

Welcome to the very, very worst side of religion

Blaming this solely on religion seems to me to miss the bigger picture. Most of the Muslim world is a far cry from what the Taliban are doing; it's clearly possible for Islam to exist in a less violent state than what the Taliban are perpetuating. In my opinion, violent interventionism, poverty, and the failure of the U.S. to advance progressive values in any real way during their long time in Afghanistan are also factors in the rise of the Taliban that we're currently seeing.

Extremist ideology is also a factor, of course; we can't look at any one factor in isolation of the others. It's a complicated situation with multiple facets and an almost symbiotic relationship between religious extremism, poverty, and foreign interventionism.

 

[Vinayaka]

The last thing this planet needs is a terrorist base that includes an entire country. All the border countries will need to be on full alert, as they have aggressive expansionist plans.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Blaming this solely on religion seems to me to miss the bigger picture. Most of the Muslim world is a far cry from what the Taliban are doing; it's clearly possible for Islam to exist in a less violent state than what the Taliban are perpetuating. In my opinion, violent interventionism, poverty, and the failure of the U.S. to advance progressive values in any real way during their long time in Afghanistan are also factors in the rise of the Taliban that we're currently seeing.

Extremist ideology is also a factor, of course; we can't look at any one factor in isolation of the others. It's a complicated situation with multiple facets and an almost symbiotic relationship between religious extremism, poverty, and foreign interventionism.

We can't ignore though a lot of the fuel is religious. Christian Europe's history is no different. People willing to burn the world to purify it have a problematic history of gaining power. Those using it as a vehicle of control have an unfortunate way of getting power. Of course it's not entirely religious, but at the end of the day these are people who use the Quran to justify they are waging holy war against an aggressor.
Downplaying religion in this topic is like downplaying religion when an Evangelical here supports measurements and restrictions that are potential harmful to women's reproductive health in the name of their religion.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Justified eradication would be the best response on these people. Not a single taliban lives.

How is that even feasible and practical?

 

[amorphous_constellation]

Blaming this solely on religion seems to me to miss the bigger picture. Most of the Muslim world is a far cry from what the Taliban are doing; it's clearly possible for Islam to exist in a less violent state than what the Taliban are perpetuating. In my opinion, violent interventionism, poverty, and the failure of the U.S. to advance progressive values in any real way during their long time in Afghanistan are also factors in the rise of the Taliban that we're currently seeing.

Extremist ideology is also a factor, of course; we can't look at any one factor in isolation of the others. It's a complicated situation with multiple facets and an almost symbiotic relationship between religious extremism, poverty, and foreign interventionism.

I suspect that yes, there is more complexity to the whole problem , but do you think that one of them is probably just general isolation, and that can be a deeper root problem before other root problems. I have some experience with that here, as my mother's family is from the poorest county in my midwestern state. There are no jobs there, as far as I know, high speed internet cannot be attained to this day. The two things they consider divine are either dogmatic religious values, or alcohol

However, there are other 'sea of information' areas in the west, (and I suppose other high information places in the world) where the problem seems to be one of people drowning in information. Or more precisely, they fail to select the good information because they do not filter out the bad information. A recent story apparently had a parent being influenced by qanon, and he went on to kill his kids with a harpoon, since he believed they would grow into evil beings. In obviously having access to a universe of information , somehow the bad took root

An altogether different issue for afghanistan, is apparently outside powers have wanted to use it as a foothold of power for the last 40 years. Or perhaps just to fight proxy wars, or gather some kind of resource there (rare minerals , oil , possibly opium?) If this kind of faux 'frontierism' is central to the problems there, then one wonders if the international influences even want an afghanistan with a heart of stability, that will regulate its rights in a more a modern way

 

[amorphous_constellation]

We can't ignore though a lot of the fuel is religious. Christian Europe's history is no different. People willing to burn the world to purify it have a problematic history of gaining power. Those using it as a vehicle of control have an unfortunate way of getting power. Of course it's not entirely religious, but at the end of the day these are people who use the Quran to justify they are waging holy war against an aggressor.

I recently read Acts chapter 17, where paul argues for the 'unknown god' to the greek stoics and epicureans in athens. I think a danger, is that people can take what is unknown, and then easily ascribe ethical or moral conclusions about what they feel it justifies. The philosophers he discussed these things with were simply unsure, or just liked to discuss different possibilities. It takes things to a level beyond that, when you tell them that they should try to sculpt out what the unknown itself is trying to tell them.

 

[McCallister]

For reasons I don't quite get, the Taliban is taking over Afghanistan faster than any insurgency in the history of the world. I just heard an Afghan teacher, when asked whether girls in her town will go to school, said, "absolutely not." When asked why not, the only answer she could offer was "because the Taliban says so."

Pretty soon, women in Afghanistan who show any of their skin will be being punished -- often enough with death, exactly as was happening before the Americans came. There will be punishments for listening to the radio, or for dancing. There will be a lot of death -- that's the general favourite punishment. In order to make people compliant, much of that will of course be public. (Remember? The Taliban used to like executing women at the half time at football games. Don't assume they won't return to that practice.)

Welcome to the very, very worst side of religion.

And by the way, the Taliban also said -- today -- that they are patient, and will not stop until the entire world is obedient to their dictates.

That’s crazy. No sir, I don’t like it. Shouldn’t Muslims do something about it? Isn’t it kind of their responsibility even though it’s probably America’s fault the Taliban exists? Also maybe some reparations. Don’t Muslims believe in charity or tithing at least? What does the Quran say?

 

[Father Heathen]

Blaming this solely on religion seems to me to miss the bigger picture. Most of the Muslim world is a far cry from what the Taliban are doing; it's clearly possible for Islam to exist in a less violent state than what the Taliban are perpetuating. In my opinion, violent interventionism, poverty, and the failure of the U.S. to advance progressive values in any real way during their long time in Afghanistan are also factors in the rise of the Taliban that we're currently seeing.

Extremist ideology is also a factor, of course; we can't look at any one factor in isolation of the others. It's a complicated situation with multiple facets and an almost symbiotic relationship between religious extremism, poverty, and foreign interventionism.

That's the problem. The U.S. military can hang around forever and pile up bodies, but it can't impart the education and values needed to make the necessary lasting, positive change. This is why, even after 20 years, everything has fallen back to square one after finally departing.

 

[Meow Mix]

For reasons I don't quite get, the Taliban is taking over Afghanistan faster than any insurgency in the history of the world. I just heard an Afghan teacher, when asked whether girls in her town will go to school, said, "absolutely not." When asked why not, the only answer she could offer was "because the Taliban says so."

Pretty soon, women in Afghanistan who show any of their skin will be being punished -- often enough with death, exactly as was happening before the Americans came. There will be punishments for listening to the radio, or for dancing. There will be a lot of death -- that's the general favourite punishment. In order to make people compliant, much of that will of course be public. (Remember? The Taliban used to like executing women at the half time at football games. Don't assume they won't return to that practice.)

Welcome to the very, very worst side of religion.

And by the way, the Taliban also said -- today -- that they are patient, and will not stop until the entire world is obedient to their dictates.

I made a post about this in the Feminist Only section that was so brief because I don't even know what to say. When I think about what these women and girls are going through (and the men, and everyone basically that doesn't fit in the Taliban's mold), my heart just breaks and then keeps breaking.

 

[Viker]

Justified eradication would be the best response on these people. Not a single taliban lives.

We sort of tried that the past 20 years. It didn't and won't work. Stuff like what your saying would only make matters worse.

 

[Twilight Hue]

We sort of tried that the past 20 years. It didn't and won't work. Stuff like what your saying would only make matters worse.

Worked on Germany. Matters got better.

 

[Meow Mix]

Worked on Germany. Matters got better.

That was with a different culture (a similar culture to the invaders), the backing of entire continents with the Marshall Plan, and the countries involved actually went full bore at it rather than doing the minimum necessary to secure resources.

I am not educated enough on the matters to guess whether a Marshall Plan-style thing would work again, but I have wondered.

 

[Viker]

Worked on Germany. Matters got better.

We didn't exterminate all the Nazis or their followers. We also had a better plan. Taliban is a different creature than the Nazis.

 

[Meow Mix]

Can you imagine the political screeching if the Marshall Plan were proposed today?

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Worked on Germany. Matters got better.

Who, what, where, when, why and how?

 

[Revoltingest]

Blaming this solely on religion seems to me to miss the bigger picture. Most of the Muslim world is a far cry from what the Taliban are doing; it's clearly possible for Islam to exist in a less violent state than what the Taliban are perpetuating. In my opinion, violent interventionism, poverty, and the failure of the U.S. to advance progressive values in any real way during their long time in Afghanistan are also factors in the rise of the Taliban that we're currently seeing.

Extremist ideology is also a factor, of course; we can't look at any one factor in isolation of the others. It's a complicated situation with multiple facets and an almost symbiotic relationship between religious extremism, poverty, and foreign interventionism.

Of all the countries where Islam is in government,
what proportion are progressive? I'm just not seeing
The Religion Of Peace as all that tolerant, even though
some individual Muslims are.

 

[Meow Mix]

Of all the countries where Islam is in government,
what proportion are progressive? I'm just not seeing
The Religion Of Peace as all that tolerant, even though
some individual Muslims are.

Islam's history is full of more progressive governments such as during the 8th-14th centuries. It's not the religion itself, just like any religion it can be taken very conservatively or can be a lot more inclusive. We have Islam to thank for a lot of western civ staples like several Greek philosophers' works that were preserved by various Islamic empires for instance.

Of course I find any kind of theocracy to be wrong, we are still talking in relative terms here.

Also look at Ataturk's Turkey (which, probably RIP to that).

 

[Revoltingest]

Islam's history is full of more progressive governments such as during the 8th-14th centuries. It's not the religion itself, just like any religion it can be taken very conservatively or can be a lot more inclusive. We have Islam to thank for a lot of western civ staples like several Greek philosophers' works that were preserved by various Islamic empires for instance.

Of course I find any kind of theocracy to be wrong, we are still talking in relative terms here.

Like many things, a religion is what it is...not necessarily
what it was at one point in history. After all, they aren't
some absolutely inerrant truth. They're human creations,
& evolve over time. And modern Islam doesn't look tolerant.